Eagles fan who ran into subway pillar remains just as passionate for team

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It has been a very special season for the Eagles and their fans as the team heads to the Super Bowl.

There is something about being seen as the scrappy underdog that seems to unite people.

That's really the only way to explain how a crazy video taken on the SEPTA subway on the way to the NFC Championship game went viral.

"It was a perfect storm of events," said Emmet Ashton.

Ashton and friend Jared Hirsch were tailgating outside of Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. They were having such a good time they managed to lose their tickets to the game.

"It's actually this guy whose fault it was," said Hirsch, pointing to Ashton. "But I think he left them in the port-a-potty."

Bummed out, the two Temple University film school grad students went to the subway to catch a train to a friend's house. That's when they noticed Jigar Desai trying to psych everyone up for the Eagles game.

"I was hamming it up," said Desai. "And I was getting pumped up myself, ready to bring it."

Ashton decided to record the event, never expecting what would happen next.

"Something came over me, I had to start recording because something was going on," he said.

That's when Desai, who was running alongside the moving subway car, ran right into the blue pillar on the platform.

"It was hilarious," said Hirsch. "It was epic."

The video instantly went viral on Twitter, viewed more than 5 million times.

Desai said he didn't see it coming.

"I think maybe a split second beforehand, I may have had this moment of, 'I think I'm going to hit this thing,'" he said.

Fortunately Desai was not seriously injured. He says he didn't feel a thing after it happened and wasn't even sore until the next morning.

"I was very lucky at the end of the day. I didn't realize I had hit the subway train as well," he said. "I feel very fortunate, so I do want to throw that out there, but I want to let everyone know that the passion is still out there."

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